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Houston trial lawyers Steve and Amber Mostyn say they’re giving $1 million to a gun-control group formed by former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly. Steve Mostyn is a major Democratic campaign contributor, backing candidates in Texas and nationally. He gave $3 million to Priorities USA Action, a super PAC aiding President Obama’s re-election. He’s perhaps best known in Texas for launching a media campaign against Rick Perry two years ago in which he chided the Republican governor for his reluctance to debate in his 2010 reelection race with a full-page newspaper ad depicting Perry and the word ”Coward.”

Mostyn, who describes himself as a gun-owner, says the group hopes to raise $20 million for the 2014 elections – enough to match the National Rifle Association’s political giving. The NRA spent $13 million last year trying to defeat President Obama’s reelection. It also spent money in seven Senate races, losing six and winning one.

In media interviews, Mostyn said Americans for Republican Solutions with support pro-gun-control candidates and conduct a public education campaign with television spots. Giffords launched the new group this week. She was wounded in a 2011 mass shooting in Tucson in which six people were killed. In a USA Today op-ed, Giffords and Kelly wrote: “Achieving reform to reduce gun violence and prevent mass shootings will mean matching gun lobbyists in their reach and resources.” The NRA’s Wayne LaPierre says his organization opposes limits on gun ownership and has proposed placing armed guards at every school in the country as the best way of stopping a repeat of the kind of mass shooting that occurred in Newtown, CT. Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs, and Silicon Valley investor Ron Conway are also helping finance the group and will host a fundraiser in San Francisco this week.

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The blog for the Dallas Morning News politics team tracks Dallas Fort Worth area, Texas and national campaigns.